


Before Dawn

by HopefulNebula



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 00:46:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopefulNebula/pseuds/HopefulNebula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Serafina and Kaesa take full advantage of the first exquisitely still night since Lord Asriel's war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before Dawn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [afinch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinch/gifts).



> This was inspired by one of the "Lantern Slides" Pullman added to one of the omnibus editions of HDM.

It was the kind of night Serafina Pekkala had rejoiced in for as long as she could remember. The air was still and pleasantly cold on her skin, there was a layer of fresh snow below her and a fine mist of water vapor in the air, and if it weren't for the brilliance of the Aurora above her it would be one of the darkest of winter nights. In short, it was a perfect night for flying.

Kaesa was already aloft. On any night like this, it would have been odd if he had stayed at her side; on the first such night since the closing of the boundaries between worlds, the thought of keeping him landbound would have been as unthinkable as not flying herself. Their connection was as strong at a foot as it was at a hundred miles, after all.

Serafina took a branch of cloud pine from her clan's storage area, gently moved it through the air to check it for damage, and satisfied with her choice, took to the skies in a rush of wind and snow and stars.

The air changed as she rose, the scent of evergreens fading and the crackling energy of the Aurora growing in strength. It was even colder up here, and Serafina rejoiced in every stray bit of vapor that hit her face. She sped up, moving ever faster until she had reached her limits, just because she could. It had been so long since she had done this, and it was far overdue.

This was her world, and she was its queen.

Only when she had to did she still her flight and simply rest in the air. The earthly world was tiny below her, glimmering in the ever-changing light of the sky, and Serafina watched the play of faint shadows earnestly. There were messages there, as important as the ones in the stars, and it was her duty to read them when she could.

The silence in the air had meaning too; she felt it envelop her the same way a spell or a dream would, and Serafina found her attention drifting from the world of the visible. The stillness of nights like this was unique and rare, and always important.

She had been a child the first time she had done this, though she had stayed on the ground then. She had still been living in Brytain with her father, who had tried in vain to understand the joy she had felt in the fog.

The stillness was just as fluid as anything else in the universe, as alive as the shining stars. It moved in waves, in eddies, in tiny swirls and whirlpools that could encompass cities.

It was that last idea that planted the seed of a realization in Serafina's mind. Knowing that there were infinite universes was one thing, but having been to some of those other worlds was entirely different. Perhaps, she thought, that largest zone of silence truly _did_ surround a city. Perhaps that was what she had been listening to all these years.

She had known of Dust, of course, even before looking through Mary Malone's spyglass; she had thought she had understood it. But now, having experienced what she had, Serafina truly _knew_. It was a peculiar feeling and a unique one, the rush of finally understanding things she had known all her adult life. The silence had depth because it held the power of consciousness itself. These nights held such thrill for her because they let her sense the forces behind existence. The thought was at once exhilarating and terrifying; it made her feel both tiny and infinitely powerful.

Her dear Kaisa flew into place beside her. He must not have been far away when she had made her realization.

"You'll have to tell Lyra," he told her, his voice a whisper in her head.

"She may already know," Serafina replied. "But she needs to feel it for herself."

And that instant moment of communion was all they needed. Kaisa flew off again, and Serafina did the same. A night like this was far too precious to waste.


End file.
